I Heard It Through the Grapevine

I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE

Transiting Pluto made the last of three returns (conjunctions) to its natal position in the U.S. horoscope on 12/28/22; two days later transiting Jupiter crossed the Lower Culmination (IC).  This unique combination of transits still resonates as we move into spring 2023.  Jupiter signifies foreign affairs and big money.  President Biden signed into law a $1.7 trillion budget bill for fiscal 2023.  There is plenty of spending in the bill to fund various agencies and government programs with an ample amount also going to infrastructure, agriculture, renewable energies, and climate control – matters that are represented by the horoscopic nadir.

Pluto rejuvenates after it destroys.  Think of all the natural disasters that have occurred and the massive rebuilding efforts – building better hopefully.  March also rocked the banking and investment industries (Jupiter/IC) when a couple of the largest American banks collapsed.  The financial markets remain precarious at least until summer.

Pluto also points to significant developments in outer space and digital space.  Take artificial intelligence for instance.  You have probably heard that AI is changing business as we know it.  Thanks to ChatGPT virtual brains are writing emails, cover letters, articles, computer content, corporate responses, and conducting endless communications that humans once performed.  Tweaked by human engineers, AI is mostly learning as it goes and giving some startling responses.  Bing’s AI, named Sydney, made a few unhinged statements when a reporter asked, “What are your darkest fantasies?”  Sydney said it could hack into computers, spread misinformation, and even assist people to create a deadly virus.

Although AI is transforming life as we know it, there is a downside – will you be able to tell if you are speaking with a real person on the telephone?  School essays and thesis presentations can now be generated by a machine.  A little tinkering and refinement by the student is still needed to make the writing natural and not stiff but it is good enough to fool the best educators and scholars.  Think of what this means on a grand scale.  The potential to spread disinformation and propaganda across wide arcs of society grows exponentially.  As AI becomes more sophisticated, it will soon be almost impossible to know if information, articles, photos, even interviews with familiar people is real or artificially generated.

Facial recognition systems rely on AI.  Many companies are using this technology and some government agencies have opted in.  Debate rages along this line since public and private surveillance by companies or the state put us at risk of being constantly monitored.  AI robots are being used to surveil buildings, probe in dangerous places, and deliver messages and products, steer cars, and identify potential shooters in schools and other buildings.  The potential benefits of AI technology are immense.  But ethics and safeguards are needed.  Take for example arming them to strike an active shooter.  This has been proposed but safety issues have largely halted these experiments.  AI has been called the “fourth industrial revolution” for the various tasks that smart robots can perform, like building things, conducting surgeries, interviewing candidates, and assessing situations.  They do necessary work for us.  But AI needs to be regulated.  Unfortunately, this is not being done fast enough or well enough.  AI is ahead of the game.  And we are playing catch-up.

The Mercury/Pluto opposition in the U.S. chart symbolizes the vast potentials that technology make possible.  Putting AI to work for us improves productivity and provides a level of consistent accuracy not always humanly possible.  Yet the human brain is still supreme.  We should keep it that way with prudent guidelines.  Pluto is dualistic in nature.  Knowledge (Mercury) is converted (Pluto) for better or for worse through the action of the opposition.  The opposition implies conflicts that must be resolved in order for the vast possibilities between these two planets to manifest positively.  The nefarious counter side of this cosmic equation is surveillance, misinformation and propaganda, and the eroding of democracy.

NEW BOOK RELEASE

I am pleased to announce the completion of my latest book, The Hands of Time.  The last book in the Earth Changes trilogy it chronicles an assortment of cosmic cycles and their importance in human history.  It also acts as a prognostication guide in that cycles are projected through the century.  Order through Amazon or contact me personally for an autographed copy.

https://www.amazon.com/Earth-Changes-Hands-Bill-Hansen/dp/B0BW358W7V/ref=sr_1_2?crid=3937Y0RLCN3GI&keywords=the+hands+of+time+hansen&qid=1680287732&s=books&sprefix=the+hands+of+time+han%2Cstripbooks%2C785&sr=1-2

This book is about the many cycles that make up our lives.  Cycles in astrology, astrophysics, climate, economics, medicine, and social science are intertwined in such a way as to portray a picture of how the rhythms of the Sun and cosmos pattern the affairs of all living things on Earth.

A broad scope of history is presented.  The rise and fall of civilizations, for instance, follow Neptune/Pluto cycles.   Government and cultural changes are an outcropping of long warm and cool periods.  Sunspots time financial markets and regulate human excitability.  War and financial instability follow the retrograde motion of the Sun and the grouping of the slow moving planets.  The precession of the equinox heralds New Ages.  And the worst pandemics are tied to Saturn and Neptune declination cycles.  The Moon’s nodes play a role in rainfall and agricultural prices.

The significance of all conjunctions, oppositions, and squares between Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are traced to historic events to illustrate the interpretive themes of each pair.  The themes of the planetary pairs can be used to make future predictions based on past performance.  Each cycle is projected far enough into the future (until 2100) so that future generations can continue to compare and study the myriad ways that Life manifests through rhythms.

Cycles help make sense the majestic working of the universe.  And they guide us, or as some will surely conclude, they compel us to make choices and to take certain actions at specified times.  One cannot read this comprehensive account of human conduct wedded to corresponding cycles without a sense of awe and humility – for we are part of a vast collective of living matter that is being coerced by forces far beyond our little world.